Ellen DeGeneres talks Proposition 8, One Million Moms protests

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In the wake of some good news for the movement for marriage equality — Proposition 8 was declared unconstitutional in court on Tuesday — lesbian icon Ellen DeGeneres is facing another wave of discrimination.

DeGeneres, who married wife Portia de Rossi when gay marriage was legal in California, was recently named a spokesperson of retailer J.C. Penney. Unfortunately, a group called One Million Moms has protested her appointment.

On her show airing Feb 8, DeGeneres addressed both Proposition 8 and the One Million Moms in a monologue that we’ve decided to share in its entirety, because Ellen is so awesome, we refuse to edit her. Read on below.

“There was some good news for marriage equality in California yesterday. If you haven’t been following it, I’ll you catch you up – for a long time, same-sex marriage was not legal. Then, here in California, it was legal for like 25 minutes. Then it was not legal again because of something called Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriage. And I’m happy to say that yesterday an appeals court ruled that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.

“I’m sure the people who oppose it will try to appeal it – but it’s a step in the right direction. So I’m happy.

“However, it leads me to something else I’d like to talk about. You all may know that I’ve recently teamed up with JC Penney. I’m very excited about that. Not only because I think they’re a great store, but also because I get a great employee discount. And I could use some new t-shirts.

“I’m happy about it. JC Penney is happy about it. But there’s a group called One Million Moms that isn’t happy about it. And normally I try not to pay attention to my haters – but this time I’d like to talk about it because my haters are my motivators.

“This organization doesn’t think I should be the spokesperson because I’m gay. For those of you who are just tuning in for the first time, it’s true. I’m gay. I hope you were sitting down. I hate to break it to you this way.

“They wanted to get me fired and I’m proud and happy to say that JC Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson. Which is great news for me because I also need some new crew socks. I’m really going to clean up with this discount.

“I mean, if they have a problem with spokespeople, what about the Pillsbury doughboy? He runs around without any pants on, basically begging for people to poke his belly. What kind of message is that?

“After JC Penney didn’t back down I thought the story would be over. It’s going to go away. Heard about it last week and it did not go away. The group has posted a message on their Facebook page. We’ll read it together.

“One Million Mom Statement: ‘By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.’

“First of all, being gay or pro-gay isn’t a bandwagon. You don’t get a free ride anywhere. There’s no music. And occasionally we’ll sing “We Are Family” but that’s about it.

“Secondly, they said a majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and not shop there anymore. I’d like to read just a few comments from the Million Moms Facebook page. This is on their page. And not that there’s anyone counting, but for a group that calls themselves a Million Moms, they only have 40,000 members on their page. So they’re rounding up to the nearest million and I get that.

“Anyway, here are some comments that people wrote on their Facebook page:

-‘Love Ellen and everything she stands for. I’m going to shop there more now!’-‘Guess I have to start shopping at JC Penney now.’-‘Way to go JC Penney for not giving in to bullies. Stand your ground.’– ‘I am a Christian and part of a traditional family and I support Ellen and now JC Penney!!!!’

“I usually don’t talk about stuff like this on my show but I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me. If you don’t know me very well. If you’re just watching maybe for the first time or you’re just getting to know me. I want to be clear. Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you’d want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for. I also believe in dance.”